Zimbabwe: Demystifying "Sanctions"

Editor's Note

The European Union formally decided on February 15 to lift
restrictive measures against 6 individuals and 9 companies in
Zimbabwe that were previously subject to travel bans and asset
freezes, but continued the measures for another year on the
majority of the 203 individuals and 40 companies on the list. The
EU cited the lack of progress in implementation of the Global
Political Agreement of September 2008 as the reason for continued
measures. Companies removed included the Industrial Development
Corporation of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company.

The measure comes amid continued debate among the parties in the
Zimbabwean government on "sanctions." But much of the debate, both
in Zimbabwe and internationally, fails to specify what sanctions
(or "restrictive measures") are actually in place and which should
be removed. The principal measure in place are the European
measures targeted at specific individuals and companies, as well
as parallel measures decided by U.S. executive order. In addition,
the U.S. Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001
requires the U.S. to oppose multilateral debt relief and
refinancing from international financial institutions until certain
conditions are met or the President decides to waive the
conditions. But there are no general trade or investment sanctions
against Zimbabwe in place comparable to those imposed on apartheid
South Africa or white-minority Rhodesia in earlier periods.

The United States and Great Britain have recently expressed support
for restoration of voting rights for Zimbabwe in the International
Monetary Fund, which may be decided later this month. Zimbabwe's
Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who is also secretary-general of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-Tsvangirai), has expressed
confidence that this will make possible a restructuring of external
financial support.

In the discussion, commentators make a clear distinction between
"sanctions" on individuals responsible for human rights abuses and
blocking democratization and measures that impact the Zimbabawean
economy more generally. As I confirmed in a visit to Zimbabwe in
December, civil society activists strongly urge continuation of the
"targeted" measures. At the same time they stressed that it was
important to encourage, not to discourage, the flow of resources to
Zimbabwe that could strengthen the economy.

VIOLET GONDA: Sanctions: Should they be lifted? In this week's Hot
Seat Programme, I ask a number of Zimbabweans from various walks of
life, what they think about this issue. ZANU PF has warned there
will be no more GPA concessions until the sanctions imposed by
Western countries are removed. Parliament has seen heated
discussions on this topic with ZANU PF insisting that the MDC
should demand the removal of the restrictive measures. Some say the
time has come for sanctions to be removed, but others claim the
sanctions are targeted on particular individuals who are guilty of
serious human rights abuses and have still not admitted wrong
doing. In the next two weeks the European Union will be reviewing
their measures, but what are Zimbabweans saying?

...
My name is INNOCENT CHOFAMBA SITHOLE. I'm a Zimbabwean journalist
based in London , the UK . My view about the sanctions is that
first of all we need to be very clear which sanctions we are
talking about. ,,,

My view is that with respect to sanctions relating to the country's
economy those should go. Those sanctions which bar multi lateral
financial institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank from doing
business with Zimbabwe and other such financial interests outside
of Zimbabwe from doing business with Zimbabwean companies or with
the Zimbabwean government, those sanctions indeed must be removed
in order to enable the economic recovery, the massive economic
recovery that is underway in Zimbabwe to proceed to fruition.

...

Now with respect to sanctions relating to individuals from ZANU PF
and the old ZANU PF government; those sanctions were put in place
on the basis of the conduct of those individuals and political
party - and conduct which undermined democracy in Zimbabwe . And
this is evidenced more so by the last election that we had in
Zimbabwe , which was the June 2007 Presidential election, in which
untold violence was unleashed on innocent people and opposition
politicians. Those people responsible for such heinous crimes
against the people of Zimbabwe do not deserve to be removed from
the sanctions list unless they show that they have reformed. ...

We still have people who are yet to be punished for crimes that
they unleashed on the people of Zimbabwe throughout all the
elections and indeed throughout most of this decade since the
emergence of opposition, vibrant opposition politics in Zimbabwe
and unless they can convince Zimbabweans that they have changed,
that they are no longer a danger, a threat, a risk to the people,
then I have no reason to argue why they should be removed from the
sanctions list. Thank you.

Yes my name is IBBO MANDAZA. I'm Zimbabwean academic, author and
publisher. The debate on sanctions: I'm puzzled really as to why
the debate has come as it has. Firstly one would like to know what
sanctions have been imposed, against whom and why those persons
have been singled out? Secondly what has changed in terms of the
reasons for which the sanctions were imposed? Thirdly what has been
the import of those sanctions? Has there been side effects
(inaudible)...? And lastly I'm not sure that sanctions, as they are
called, have been the major factor in terms of the economic decline
in Zimbabwe . I would like to think that there are bigger issues
than sanctions. You have to look at the totality of factors that
have been impinged upon Zimbabwe or underpinned the economic
decline and the political malaise that we know today. I'm not sure
that sanctions really matter in my view. I think they are quite
peripheral in Zimbabwe . Thank you.

...

I'm TONY HAWKINS, Professor of Economics at the Graduate School of
Management, University of Zimbabwe . I think that the sanctions
should be maintained. I personally believe that this country is not
going to emerge fully from its crisis without fresh elections and
a change of government. I'm not a supporter of the Government of
National Unity, which I think has, as I always predicted, been
proven to be a failure because one party or perhaps two parties are
unprepared to participate fully. So I think the sooner we get new
elections the better and then sanctions will fall away.

As for the impact of sanctions I think they are minimal and I think
that their continued existence really plays into the hands of some
people in ZANU PF, which sounds a bit of a contradiction from what
I was saying earlier, but on the other hand I would argue that in
fact any relaxation of sanctions would convince ZANU PF that they
are winning and make them even more intransigent than they are
already.

I think one should accept that economic recovery and development in
this country depends on the full acceptance of the need for a
modern democratic society and that means that the measures, the
sanctions that have been imposed are a reflection of what is
missing. In other words we need a return to conditions that will
attract investment, that will foster confidence and so on. The mere
existence of sanctions is a reminder that we are deficient in this
area and that the deficiency has nothing to do with the rights and
wrongs of sanctions but have a lot to do with the failure of the
previous government and one of the partners in the existing
government to behave according to the norms of modern civilised
democratic society.

The name is WELLINGTON CHIBHEBHE, Secretary General of the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions. Our position on the so-called sanctions
has always been very clear in the sense that from our reading, the
so-called sanctions were targeted measures. Targeted at specific
individuals and specific companies and/or organisations which had
something to do with the violation of human rights in Zimbabwe .
Unfortunately for Zimbabweans and fortunately for ZANU PF the issue
of the targeted measures has now been reduced to the so-called
sanctions in the GPA and ZANU PF is cleverly taking advantage of
that drafting of the word sanctions, to now clamour for the removal
of the so-called sanctions. But believe you me, the issue of the
so-called sanctions is a non-issue because it is linked from our
own perspective, it is linked to the violation of human rights and
peoples' freedom and from where we have observed the situation on
the ground, nothing has changed so far. So if the so-called
sanctions or targeted measures were linked to the violation of
human rights and peoples' freedom we don't view the hullabaloo that
is going on and the noise that is coming from ZANU PF as anything
to take note of, it's much ado about nothing. ...

Hallo, my name is JENNI WILLIAMS, the National Co-ordinator of
Women of Zimbabwe Arise. We are a pressure group putting pressure
on Robert Mugabe and his regime and this power sharing deal to
create more respect for civil liberties on the ground in Zimbabwe
. We want them to implement the power sharing deal and until they
implement that deal we feel international sanctions should remain
in place as leverage for them to stop putting their sanctions on us
in the country. That is why, as WOZA we are continuing to fight for
respect for our human rights. We want to be able to demonstrate on
the streets peacefully without someone, a police officer coming,
sanctioning us with his baton stick, sanctioning us by putting us
in jail and that is why we feel that international leverage helps,
to pressure Robert Mugabe to remove sanctions on us or else!

This is BISHOP TREVOR MANHANGA, I am the presiding bishop of the
Pentecostal Assemblies of Zimbabwe. Regarding the matter of
sanctions, I think that they should be unreservedly and immediately
lifted for the benefit of people of Zimbabwe . I think the people
of Zimbabwe need to be rewarded for everything they have achieved.
We have managed to bring a polarised political situation to a
situation where the protagonists are now sitting together, working
together for the benefit of this nation. Sanctions serve no further
purpose and anyone who advocates for the continued imposition of
sanctions is against the people of Zimbabwe . The people of
Zimbabwe must not be punished any further - they must be rewarded.
We must also see from the west a removal of the double standards,
which we are seeing. Why is it that there are no sanctions being
imposed on Afghanistan, Pakistan other countries that have had
problems, worse problems than Zimbabwe? Is it because Zimbabweans
have managed to do something by themselves with a little bit of
assistance from their African brothers in the SADC and the AU that
the western world wants to continue with these sanctions?

They are now totally unjustified and the continuance of the
sanctions on Zimbabwe lends credence to the idea that what is
really at stake, it's not really the new political dispensation but
a punishment on the people of Zimbabwe for the land reform
programme and until that is reversed, sanctions will not be lifted
- because all the political indicators that people advocating for
in the past are evident now. People that were fighting each other
are working together and there is therefore now no more further
need for sanctions to be on this country. This country needs to
take off and it cannot do that while these sanctions are continuing
and affecting the development of the nation.

My name is GERTRUDE HAMBIRA, I represent the General Agricultural
and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe, a union which represents
farm workers. I just want to give a short comment about the issue
of sanctions. From the grassroots point of view we are not aware of
the so-called sanctions that are hurting the people of Zimbabwe.
But from our own observations - we are farm labourers who have lost
jobs through the land reform programme. So I don't know if it is
the land reform programme which has created these sanctions or not
but we have lost our entire livelihood due to the current land
reform programme which has resulted in the loss of our jobs, our
children being put out of school. So I can't talk more about
sanctions because I'm not aware of these sanctions but what I have
heard is that they are so-called targeted sanctions, I don't know
what that means.

Right now we are currently battling with the issues of trying to
attend to displaced farm workers who have been affected by the
current invasions which are taken place and also the wages for farm
workers which still stand at $32 and no-one can be or is able to
survive on $32. And I want to say that we are just watching the
civil servants - what they are going to get while we are preparing
ourselves for the negotiations for our members, which are going to
take place on the 19 th of February. So you will be informed of the
outcome of these negotiations but if nothing fruitful comes out it
means that the workers won't be happy about it, they are bound to
take a very harsh decision.

...

My name is JOHN MAKUMBE, I'm a Professor of Political Science at
the University of Zimbabwe, and I'm in Harare. Sanctions should
stay in place, sanctions should not be removed, there's nothing
that has changed in Zimbabwe except the fact that the MDC
Tsvangirai and MDC Mutambara are now part of what is called the
inclusive government. The power sharing itself has not occurred, it
has not taken place. Robert Mugabe is reluctant to share any power
with Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara and so the sanctions
must stay in place. The governors, provincial governors who are
supposed to be from MDC Tsvangirai, five of them and one from MDC
Mutambara have not been sworn in, they are not in place. The
diplomats who were trained, something like six diplomats from the
MDC have not been deployed even though they completed their
training and a lot of things in the Global Political Agreement have
not been done and until they are done the sanctions must stay in
place, they must not be lifted at all and even lifting them bit by
bit as Morgan Tsvangirai is suggesting is not really wise, it will
be very dangerous.

I'm not contradicting myself from my previous appearance on SW
Radio Africa, I am actually reinforcing what I said then - which is
that I was still optimistic, in other words the sanctions must stay
in place in order to make ZANU PF and Robert Mugabe do the right
thing. They have to behave themselves.

...

ELINOR SISULU, writer and human rights activist based in South
Africa, I am a Zimbabwean South African. I think that first of all
there are no sanctions, there are targeted restrictive measures on
certain individuals, those individuals within ZANU PF are still
being an obstacle to democracy and I think that if sanctions are
removed it would be a very dangerous thing for the ordinary people
of Zimbabwe because there would be no pressure on the ZANU PF
regime and they can just overturn the GPA overnight. There's no
guarantee that if sanctions are removed they are going to fulfil
the other requirements of the GPA. So certainly the targeted
restrictions should remain but maybe the restrictions on the
economy as a whole should be removed.

There's been a lot of mystification about sanctions, there's no way
that targeted restrictions on individuals, which prevent
individuals from remitting their money abroad or accessing the
stolen money from bank accounts in the west. There's no way that
those kind of restrictions could have affected the economy. The
other issue was the bar on Zimbabwe's borrowing which was to do
with Zimbabwe not fulfilling its requirements to the IMF. Those can
easily be addressed and also the kind of prevention of Zimbabweans
having access to credit lines I think that is the main issue that
one might argue that has affected the economy. But even then
there's no convincing argument on the whole to say that Zimbabwe is
in the state that it is because of sanctions.

Hi I'm ALAN DOYLE. The idea that sanctions should be removed to
reward the government of national unity is very, very premature.
Even if ZANU had fulfilled its obligations under the Global
Political Agreement it could then reverse anything it had done once
sanctions had been safely removed in the clear knowledge that they
would be unlikely to be replaced again and of course they haven't
fulfilled their obligations. There are a number of outstanding
issues, the ministers, the Governor of the Reserve Bank, the
Attorney General and just recently in the last couple of days the
withdrawal of the Prime Minister's duties in terms of having
Ministers report to him, so there are a number of outstanding items
and it's very, very premature to talk about removing sanctions.
It's surprising really that people have been putting forward this
argument haven't, are having such difficulty learning from history.
The last ten years at least have shown that there's no quid pro quo
with ZANU PF, no give and take, there's only take. And I think that
regardless what Tendai Biti or the MDC or the AU or SADC asks,
these measures, particularly the measures against individuals have
got to be kept in place until any political improvements on the
ground are irreversible. Thank you very much.

AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with
a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.

AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please
write to this address to subscribe or unsubscribe to the bulletin,
or to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about
reposted material, please contact directly the original source
mentioned. For a full archive and other resources, see
http://www.africafocus.org